Introductory Level Course Rep Training

Introductory Level Course Rep Training name of trainer associate trainer | sparqs

sparqs • student partnerships in quality Scotland. • Our role is to ensure that students can make a positive difference to learning and teaching. • Around 4000 reps are trained each academic year. • Funded by the Scottish Funding Council since 2003.

Learning outcomes for today • Develop your understanding of the course rep role and describe the work involved in being a course rep. • Discuss the student learning experience and explore how you can use it to assist you in your work as a course rep. • Develop some of the skills you will use as course rep.

Exercise 1 - Group introductions Speaking for about a minute, let your fellow reps know: • Who you are. • What course you’re doing and something you like about it. • Why you wanted to be a rep, how you came to be a rep. • What you’d like to get out of today.

Exercise 2 - Your rep role • What do you think the purpose of the student rep is? • What do you think some of the tasks will be? • What skills do you think you will need and develop as a rep? • How do you think being a rep will benefit you?

Purpose of a rep • To continuously improve the student learning experience in partnership with the institution and students’ association by helping create solutions to problems. • To represent your fellow classmates’ views and opinions on all matters relating to learningandteaching. • To provide both positive and negativefeedback to staff. • To act as a communication channel between staff and students.

Speak to people outside of meetings. Develop solutions to issues. Pass issues onto students’ association. Contribute to institutional activities. Rep tasks • Introduce yourself to your class. • Gather student opinion. • Provide feedback to staff and students. • Present student views at meetings. • Attend meetings.

Organisation. Report writing. Diplomacy. Negotiation. Research. Time management / prioritisation. Rep skills • Communication. • Listening. • Networking. • Relationship building. • Reflection. • Presentation.

Benefits of being a rep • Learn new skills. • Looks good on your CV. • Networking opportunities. • Background for future representational roles. • Good experience for future employment. • Can be validated on student transcripts. • Make a difference.

Why is representation important? You are an expert on your learning experience

Exercise 3 - Your course of study… In your small groups, discuss the following questions: • What do you most like about your course? • What would you like to change or improve about your course? • Write this down on a post-it note for use later!

The Student Learning Experience

Curriculum • How is the course content structured? • Are the learning objectives clearly stated and being followed? • Does the curriculum being taught match your expectations from the information provided about the course?

Learning Resources • Do you have appropriate materials, such as text books, equipment and tools? • Do learning spaces support learning appropriately? These can include classrooms, labs, libraries and VLEs.

Learning and Teaching Process • What is it like in the learning space (physical or virtual)? • Are you happy with the range of teaching methods used? • Is it the right method for the type of course? • Is it accessible to all students?

Assessment and Feedback • Are assessments spaced out well? • Are they the right kind of assessments for the type of module/unit/course? • What kind of feedback is given? Is it of good enough quality? • Does feedback help you see where and how you need to improve?

Student Progression and Achievement • Are you able to progress easily from one module to the next? • Are you able to evaluate your own personal progress throughout the course? • Are further course opportunities and pathways made clear to you?

Guidance and Support • How much support are you receiving with your academic work? • If you are struggling, where do you go for advice? • Are you given clear guidance on what is expected of you as a student?

Quality Enhancement and Assurance • Do you feel that staff and the department are receptive to student concerns and suggestions? • Do you feel that you and your class mates’ opinions are listened to? • What improvements have been made to your course during your time of study?

Exercise 4 – using the SLE • Take the post-it note which contains the element of your course that you would like to improve and stick it on the Student Learning Experience Diagram on the heading that you think it best fits.

Short break

The Course Rep Cycle Feeding back to students what has (or hasn’t) changed…and why! Identifying any issues or challenges Developing and implementing solutions

Course rep activities It involves several things: • Identifying issues. • Researching how the issues affect students. • Presenting your case to the relevant meeting or person. • Working with them to solve the issue if you can. • Feeding back to students about what’s changed.

Exercise 5 – Gathering student opinion • Think back to exercise 3 and look at the answers given about what you liked most about your course and what you would like to change. • In your groups write down how you would find out from your fellow classmates about whether or not they agree or disagree with these opinions.

Surveys. Post it notes in tutorials. Comment boxes. Gathering student opinion • Discussion in class • Emails. • Online spaces: • Facebook. • Twitter. • Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) such as Moodle/Blackboard.

The A,B,C,D of Effective Feedback

A is for Accuracy I have spoken to some of my class group and we think that the course isn’t good enough. I have had a discussion with my class group and the majority feel there isn’t enough practical work in the module, leading us to feel short on industry-relevant skills.

B is for Balanced The whole course is really not well put together and the assessments don’t fit well with the teaching. The theory elements of the course are taught well, are interesting and understandable to the majority, but there is a sense among the class that we are lacking practical work to back up the theory.”

C is for Constructive As a class we never know what we are supposed to be doing from week to week in our x module classes. Would it be possible for the class to have a plan of work and assessments given to us at the beginning of each semester in our x module classes?

D is for Depersonalised After discussion with the class we want to tell you that Mr Smith is a terrible lecturer who never gives assessments back on time. After discussion with the class we want to say that the return of assessments in our module classes is always too late to enable us to learn from our mistakes for the next assessment.

Exercise 6 - Developing solutions • Let’s look at an example from exercise 3. • How would we tackle this to try and come up with a solution which would benefit the class? • You need to think about: • How do we find out what the class think? • Where will we take our issue and suggestions? • How will we word it, remember ABCD? • How wouldwe go about getting the solution implemented? • Whatis our time scale for the implementation?

Exercise 7 - Attending student-staff meetings Think about what you would do: • Before you to go to the meeting? • During the meeting? • After the meeting?

Before a meeting • Where and when is the meeting going to take place? • Find out what your classmates think about their learning experience. • Is there anything you want to put on the agenda? Get in touch with the Chair/Secretary. • Read any of the papers that have been sent round, including the previous meetings minutes. • Speak to other course reps.

During a meeting • Always be on time, if you are going to be late let the Chair/Secretary know before the meeting. • Be prepared to take notes if necessary. • Remember the A, B, C and D of effective feedback. • Ask questions if you do not understand anything. • Support other course reps in the meeting.

After a meeting • Report back to your classmates. • Check the minutes. • Do anything you have been asked to do. • Follow up any areas of concern. • Did you achieve what you wanted to achieve? If not, what are you going to do about it?

Identify the issue Feed back Develop & implement the solution Closing the loop Don’t forget to Feed back what you have achieved!!

Closing the loop • Report back directly to the class. • Emails. • Face to face chats. • Surveys. • Online spaces: • Facebook. • Twitter. • Virtual Learning Environments.

Support available to you • Your students’ association/institution. • Online training resources are available via www.sparqs.ac.uk • NUS Scotland, the national representative body, can support you. Visit www.nus.org.uk for more information.

Your future rep career • If you’re interested in becoming a sparqs Associate Trainer, recruitment begins around February/March each year, and is advertised on the sparqs website. • For further info about any of these opportunities, contact sparqs – admin@sparqs.ac.uk

Learning outcomes for today Reflecting on today’s training, have you… • Explored your understanding of your role as a course rep? • Discussed the student learning experience and explored how you can use it to improve your course’s collective experience? • Developed some of the skills you will use as course rep?

Thank you for attending Introductory Level Course Rep Training!Please fill in your evaluation forms and hand them in. name of trainer (email address) associate trainer | sparqs

Introductory Level Course Rep Training